BIRMINGHAM, England – Don’t look now, but UFC middleweight slugger Chris Leben (22-7 MMA, 12-6 UFC) is currently in the middle of his best octagon run since 2006.

At the 31 years old, “The Crippler” has turned back some of his inner demons and is focused on developing into a complete mixed martial artist. The efforts have paid dividends in the form of four wins in his past five outings.

At Saturday’s UFC 138 event in Birmingham, England, Leben fights for the 19th time under the UFC banner and said he’s only focused on interesting fights for his time left in the game. And the man he finds perhaps most interesting of all? UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva.

“Five years ago, I fought Anderson Silva,” Leben told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I believe I’ve changed immensely. I don’t know how much he’s progressed. I would love to get that shot again.”

Leben, 15-1 at the time, welcomed Silva to the UFC in June 2006. At the time, he simply was not prepared for a striker of Silva’s pedigree and was downed in just 49 seconds. It was the first of Silva’s astonishing 14 straight (and counting) wins in the octagon.

Leben then struggled through a 3-5 stretch that left many fans and pundits wondering exactly what the sometimes-troubled veteran of “The Ultimate Fighter 1″ had left in the tank. Leben said he realized his outside-of-the-cage choices were having a profound impact on his career, and he decided to make a change.

“People say you get older, you get wiser,” Leben said. “I just think I get more lazy. I don’t want to cut as much weight. I don’t like being hungover. There’s a lot of factors – a lot of personal factors, as well.”

Leben has since rebounded with victories over Wanderlei Silva, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Aaron Simpson and Jay Silva. The lone blemish during that run came to Brian Stann in a bout in which Leben looked anything but 100 percent.

“The Brian Stann fight was a bummer,” Leben said. “As it sits, I’ve won four out of my last five fights. Probably the most easiest guy is the one I lost to, but that’s what happens. My last fight, Wanderlei Silva, was my hero growing up. Here I was getting ready for a bloodbath, and it was 27 seconds. That’s why we love the sport. You never know what can happen.

“You hear a lot of people say it, and it’s very true: Styles make fights – how styles match up. For me, my Wanderlei fight was definitely one of the best feelings I’ve ever had. It was definitely my biggest victory in my mind, and as far as styles go, I matched up well against him.”

Leben now faces Mark Munoz (11-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 138 fight card, which takes place at Birmingham’s LG Arena. The headliner and main card air via same-delay on Spike TV in the U.S. (and live in other countries).

A two-time collegiate All-American wrestler, Munoz would seem to present some real problems for Leben, a striking specialist. But Leben believes Munoz’s aggressive style is actually a blessing.

“This is the kind of guy I like to fight,” Leben said. “One of the reasons is Munoz doesn’t know how to fight moving backward. He moves forward, and I move forward, too. That’s what I like. I like guys that come out to fight – not to win. Fight to knock out your opponent, to submit or knock him out, not to go out and squeeze out a victory. Munoz is that kind of fighter. He’s a fireworks fighter.

“He does have great wrestling, and that’s an awesome attribute for him. He also bangs pretty hard. He can take a hit. We’ve seen him get rocked and come back.”

Leben and Munoz are actually setting a bit of history in the fight since the UFC 138 featured contest serves as the promotion’s first-ever five-round non-title fight, a staple for all main-event contests in the future. No one really expects the fight to go 25 minutes, but Leben said he did make a few minor tweaks.

“No matter what, you train as hard as you possibly can, obviously,” Leben said. “It’s a tightrope walk. ‘Am I over-training? Am I going to get sick? Am I going to get hurt? Can I train more? Am I not training enough?’ The only thing that we did do a little bit was focus on pacing ourselves for five rounds and focusing on what we’re going to do in those latter rounds – which I doubt ever will come around.”

Leben may end up with a little bit of the crowd behind him. After all, he did fight in Birmingham in October 2008. It was not one of his best performances (he dropped a three-round contest to Brit Michael Bisping and was later fined and suspended for the use of the synthetic anabolic steroid Stanozolol).

But Leben said he’s a different man since then. Oh, and he also took the chance to fire off one quick salvo at the oft-targeted Bisping.

“I think [Bisping] gets ready for each fight by running five miles a day backward,” Leben said. “That’s kind of what he did in that fight. I chased him around, chased him around. Hindsight is 20-20.”

But that was then, and this is now. Leben is in the middle of a career renaissance of sorts. Munoz, a fast-rising contender, would make an excellent notch on Leben’s mantel. And as far as Leben is concerned, there aren’t too many more notches to make before he should get a second crack at “The Spider.”

“I’ve been in the sport long enough,” Leben said. “I think if I win this fight in decisive fashion, people should be able to go, ‘Look, he’s won five of his last six fights. We know he was sick going into the Stann fight, but he took it anyway. He didn’t pull out. Give him a shot.'”

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